Feb. 26

Why such an odd question in the headline? Migrant Tales has published, like the national media, a number of stories on racism in Lieksa, a town located in Eastern Finland. Karjalainen, a Joensuu daily, has played an important role in tackling racism in this part of the country. The headline of the story, Racism could be a motive in the attack against a Somali taxi driver of Lieksa, is an odd headline. The story states that not only was the taxi driver attacked by the white Finnish male client, but was that the driver was also a victim of his racist language and harassment. While everyone is innocent before proven guilty, why are we questioning if this was a hate crime? Are we playing down what happened by asking if it was a hate crime? The headline should have been bolder like, White Finn attacks and hurls racist language against Somali taxi driver.